YOUR EYE WILL NEVER LIE, KEEP IT OPEN TO SEE THE TRUTH...

Monday, December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas 2006

Ahhh nadai ko enggau meh baka Christmas ke taun tuk, ka pan enggai ngintu ba tempat kerja aja meh. Nadai nemu daya endang sigi udah gaya pengawa. Ngarap ke Petara semampai meri berkat Iya ngagai kitai semua lalu semampai bisi begulai enggau kitai enda milih dini alai. Sama-sama meh kitai meri terima kasih ngagai Iya ketegal ke udah merkat pengidup kitai sepanjai taun 2006
Enggau peluang tuk, aku meri Selamat Hari Christmas 2006 serta Selamat Nyambut Taun Baru 2007 ngagai semua ka bisi lalu kitu. Ngajih ke kitai semampai bulih pengerai serta mujur dalam semua pengawa lalu bulih pengelantang ba pengidup dalam taun ti ka datai.


Project Completion Party

After almost 6 month stationed in Saudi Arabia, finally we complete our project here in Middle East. As an appreciation for the crew efforts towards the successful of the Project and also as a farewell party to the crew as we going to head back to East Asia a Project Completion Party was organized.















It was a wonderful completion party and most of our crew commented that it was one of the best party. Everything was so well planned and organized. It was a non stop entertainment. The music, the opulent spread which was gorgeous and tasty, also not forgetting the variety of drinks which were in abundance.
















The music was very good and not forgetting the outstanding cabaret artist which kept us ogling all the time from the start to the very end.


















All in all, we had a great outing and enjoyed ourselves to the utmost.
Attach here with some pictures captured during the event.

Bejalai Ngagai Gua Niah















Nya..Tuk Meh Gemuk Aku..
















Ujung Gua ke ngebus ngagai Painting Cave
















Tu meh gambar jalai ke bedau tembuk
















Begambar ba Painting Cave
















Dalam Perau ngelayang ari HQ ngagai Pengkalan Lubang

Empai lama tu keudah ianya kena 20th Jul 2006, aku bisi mai bala bejalai-jalai ngagai Gua Niah. Laban ka nyu udah kelalu lama enda nemuai kia, mayuh amai ga udah ubah utai ke bisi diak. Jalai nyu semakin manah, pia mega rumah alai bala temuai diau, nyu bertambah mayuh serta nyu majak manah. Semina lebuh maya nya, jalai ke nuju ngagai Gua Niah ari tebing ai Niah bedau entu tembu diadu. Taja pia, semua bala cukup gaga tajapan maya pulai semua sebana ke pengelelak diri.

DAYAK

The Dayak are natives indigenous to Borneo. The term Dayak is principally used to describe the interior population of Borneo. It is a loose term for over 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic subgroups, each with its own dialect, customs, laws, territory and culture, although common distinguishing traits are readily identifiable.

Dayaks are generally categorised as part of a wider Austronesian-speaking group, local to the island of Borneo in the Malay Archipelago. There are about 8 million Dayaks in Borneo.

Sarawak - Dayak Main Group
In general the Dayak Community can be divided into three main groups, the Iban, the Bidayuh and the Orang Ulus. The Dayak indigeneous religion is a form of animism — worshiping of multiple gods like the rice goddess — then known as Kaharingan. Over time, some customs died and some lived on until it took its current shape which is closer to Buddhism and Hinduism. Since the last 50 years, many Dayaks have converted to either Islam or Christianity.

Headhunting
Headhunting is a gruesome tradition that is no longer practiced in Dayak culture (at least not that we know of). In the days of the Brooke Dynasty in Sarawak, victorious Dayak warriors would parade the heads of enemies as trophies. The government subsequently put a stop to the practice and now all that remains is the skulls on parade in some homes.

Longhouse
The traditional Dayak Longhouse can hold up to 200 families and measure up to 100 yards long. Whole communities can live in family apartments units next door to each other in one single bamboo block which is built on stilts. Today, Dayaks live in modern longhouse which mostly equipped with modern infrastructure facilities.

Music & Dance
The most common form of musical instrument is the guitar-like ‘sape’, a heritage of the Orang Ulus. It is made of wood and between three to five wires typically used for fishing. A person who plays the sape is usually accompanied by a dance, typically the Ngajat Iban, a traditional warrior dance for men, and the Datun Julud, a hornbill dance for women.

Orang Ulu

Orang Ulu ("upriver people") is an ethnic designation politically coined to group together roughly 27 very small but ethnically diverse tribal groups in Sarawak, with a population ranging from less than 300 persons to over 25,000 persons. Orang Ulu is not a legal term and no such racial group is listed in the Malaysia Constitution. The term was popularised by a minority association known as "Orang Ulu National Association" that was formed in 1969.

The Orang Ulu typically live in longhouse elaborately decorated with murals and woodcarvings. They are also well-known for their intricate beadwork detailed tattoos. The Orang Ulu tribes can also be identified by their unique music - distinctive sounds from their sape, a stringed instrument not unlike the mandolin.
A vast majority of the Orang Ulu tribes are Christians but old traditional religions are still practiced in some areas.

Kayan Kenyah

Lying off the coast of Southeast Asia, Borneo is the largest island of the great Malay archipelago that stretches eastward from Southeast Asia to the western tip of New Guinea. Covered by dense tropical rainforest, this enormous island, roughly twice the size of the British Isles, is divided between the modern nations of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the oil-rich sultanate of Brunei. Europeans first encountered this land in 1521, when members of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition made a brief stop at Brunei, but the island remained largely unexplored by Europeans until the latter half of the nineteenth century. Today, the cities of the coast are predominantly Islamic, and the indigenous peoples live deep in the interior.
Borneo is home to a number of distinct artistic traditions. Of these, the Kenyah-Kayan tradition is among the most aesthetically accomplished. Named for the Kenyah and Kayan peoples among whom it originated, it is found among the Kenyah, Kayan, Bahau, Modang, and related groups in the interior of Borneo, although some of its stylistic influences extend as far as the coast. Kenyah-Kayan art is characterized by a sinuous blending of plant and animal forms that often brings to mind Norse or Celtic art of Europe. Kenyah-Kayan artists work in a variety of media ranging from indigenous materials such as wood and the ivory-like hornbill casque to imported glass beads from sources as distant as Italy, Britain, and Bohemia. Both sexes contribute to the artistic life of the community. Men traditionally work materials such as wood, antler, and metal. Women work in beads and fiber. Most surviving examples from the classic period of Kenyah-Kayan art date from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, although some pieces may be much earlier. While some Kenyah-Kayan art forms, particularly those associated with warfare, are no longer produced, others, including carving and beadwork, continue. Although Christianity has become widespread in the interior, masking traditions persist, and many young mothers still carry their children in distinctive beaded baby carriers adorned with designs that afford protection from harmful spirits. Death and Life in the Longhouse
Most of the indigenous peoples of Borneo live in massive communal structures known as longhouses. Essentially a village under a single roof, a longhouse can be up to 300 yards in length and house dozens of individual families. Inside the longhouse, each family lives in a separate apartment or amin set along a central corridor that serves as the village "street." Kenyah-Kayan society is traditionally divided into several hereditary social classes: high chiefs, minor nobility, commoners, and, formerly, slaves. Within the longhouse community, gender roles are conspicuous. Women were, and are, largely responsible for rice agriculture and child rearing, while men, until the early twentieth century, carried on warfare and headhunting. In the Kenyah-Kayan worldview, all of these activities brought life and vitality to the community. Though acquired through the death of an enemy, heads were the sustainers of life. Displayed in the longhouse gallery and kept "comfortable" with their own fire, enemy skulls were believed to bring health and prosperity to the village and fertility to its rice fields.

The Spirit World

The imagery of Kenyah-Kayan art abounds with fearsome, otherworldly creatures. They appear on everything, from the massive wooden beams of the longhouse to the delicately carved ornamentation of warriors' swords. These monstrous beings protect the individual and community by driving off dangerous spirits. The Kenyah-Kayan cosmos is divided into an Upperworld and an Underworld populated by gods and spirits. While the gods have little involvement with daily life, the forests and rivers are home to an abundance of spirits that interfere constantly in human affairs.

Left unprotected, the longhouse community might easily be invaded by spirits bearing ill luck, disease, and even death. Points of transition, whether spatial or physical, are particularly dangerous places. The symbolic and physical entrances from life to death or exterior to interior through which humans pass can also be used by spirits. Spirits may enter the longhouse through a door, for example, and bring sickness to the living or attack the vulnerable souls of the newly dead. To repel these malevolent spirits, Kenyah-Kayan artists adorn both the longhouse and its occupants with images of powerful supernatural guardians. Like the gargoyles on medieval cathedrals, dragon-like creatures stare out from the roof, walls, and doors of the longhouse. Clothing, ornaments, utilitarian objects, and the coffins and graves of the dead are also embellished with protective images. In Kenyah-Kayan cosmology, the representation of these powerful creatures in art is more than symbolic. It serves to invoke the creature itself in a very literal sense, placing it within its image and with it, its protective powers.

Guardian Figures
The entrances to Kenyah-Kayan villages and longhouses are especially vulnerable to supernatural attack. To deflect spirits, particularly those bringing sickness, the Kenyah-Kayan place imposing guardian figures, known as uyat, around the longhouse entrances and along the paths leading up to the village. These figures take both human and animal forms. The posts and ladders at the entrance itself bear similar imagery.



Facial features such as eyes and teeth are emphasized, producing a vigorous, aggressive appearance designed to intimidate both hostile spirits and enemy raiding parties.
Even today, rivers serve as the primary means of transportation in the interior, and, like humans, sickness-bearing spirits travel by river. In former times, new figures were erected between the longhouse and the river at news of an approaching epidemic. These freshly carved images were consecrated through the sacrifice of pigs and fowl. During the ritual, each member of the community applied a small amount of pig or chicken blood to the figures, simultaneously empowering them and bringing them to life.

Aso: The "Dog-Dragon

An omnipresent motif in Kenyah-Kayan art is the aso, or "dog-dragon." Although the name literally means "dog," the aso is actually a supernatural creature that incorporates aspects of the dog, the dragon, and the climbing tendrils of forest vines. When carved in the round, aso are often doglike. When rendered in low relief, as on the handles and scabbards of swords, several dragonlike aso are frequently combined in a semi-abstract interweaving of bodies in which eyes, jaws, and other recognizable features can scarcely be perceived. Although some scholars speculate that the aso derives from dragons on Chinese trade ceramics (an important form of wealth among the Kenyah-Kayan), the pervasiveness of similar concepts in related Indonesian traditions makes it more likely that the creature is of indigenous origin.
In addition to warding off dangerous spirits, the aso serves as a status symbol. Only members of the high nobility are entitled to decorate their clothing and implements with full aso or human figures. The accouterments of lesser nobles can show only aso or human heads, while commoners are restricted to geometric motifs.

The Arts of War

Threats to longhouse communities came not only from spirits but also from human enemies. Until Dutch and British colonial authorities intervened in the early twentieth century, warfare and headhunting played central roles in the lives of Kenyah-Kayan men. Prowess as a warrior was central to male identity and social status, and some of the finest examples of Kenyah-Kayan art are found in the rich adornment of warrior's costumes and weapons. Many of the designs on Kenyah-Kayan weapons and war regalia had protective functions, but the monstrous faces and aso on shields and headgear were also intended to terrify human enemies and repel the spirits that brought bad luck on the battlefield.

Among the finest examples of Borneo metalwork are the brass ornaments that were attached to war helmets made from coiled basketry. Such ornaments often depict the human face, an emblem restricted to the nobility, in various degrees of abstraction. These remarkable objects offered protection from enemy weapons and served as marks of wealth and social rank.
Perhaps the consummate marriage of form and medium in Kenyah-Kayan art is exemplified in the warrior's ear ornaments carved from hornbill ivory. Derived from the beak of the helmeted hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil), a large forest bird, this unusual "ivory" was a rare and valuable commodity both within and beyond Borneo. Many depict dragon-like aso carved with exquisite sensitivity and detail. Although ear ornaments are worn by both sexes, in the past only men who had taken enemy heads were entitled to wear those made from hornbill ivory.

The hornbill casque was highly prized outside of Borneo, so much so that Chinese emperors are reputed to have worn belt buckles of Borneo hornbill ivory.
Weapons were a central element of the male accouterments in this culture, and the supreme expression of Kenyah-Kayan weaponry was the sword, or mandau. Often each component-handle, blade, scabbard-of this remarkable sword was produced by a different expert. The finest examples had handles of deer antler adorned with aso and other supernatural subjects. The blades, created from local iron ores and inlaid with imported brass, were considered to be the finest in Borneo. The hot metal was said to have been quenched in the cold water of mountain streams, producing blades of superior strength. Iron was thought to have potentially dangerous supernatural powers, and the smiths were generally drawn from the nobility, who were likelier to be better able to control these potent forces. These smiths had personal guardian spirits and kept beads and other amulets among their iron-working tools to protect themselves from harm. Once the blades were forged, they were complemented with tufted handles, wooden or leather scabbards, beadwork, and amulets such as shells and animal teeth. The result was a weapon that was both physically and spiritually intimidating.

Masks

Among the most dramatic Kenyah-Kayan works are hudoq: ritual masks created to protect the rice crop. Rice is the staple food of the Kenyah-Kayan, and crop failure can mean starvation. In Kenyah-Kayan belief, rice has a female spirit or "soul" that can be attacked by malevolent spirits, resulting in a poor harvest. To protect the "rice soul," men don masks depicting fearsome creatures to frighten dangerous spirits from the ricefields. Armed with menacing teeth and adorned with tendril-like motifs, these brightly painted masks represent both human and animal forms. The masks are worn with shaggy costumes of banana leaves and are danced before planting and again at various times as the rice plants mature.
A second mask type, sometimes called a "soul-catching mask," was formerly used by shamans in curing rituals. During sleep or unconsciousness, the human soul is believed to travel outside the body. If the soul becomes "lost" on its journey, the body quickly sickens. When illness due to "soul loss" is suspected, the shaman, usually a woman, is summoned. The shaman goes into a trance and, using masks and other ritual paraphernalia, attempts to recapture the wandering soul. If the soul cannot be caught and restored to the body, the victim may die.

The Women's World


Kenyah-Kayan women are closely associated, both physically and ritually, with fertility and rice agriculture. While men participate in agricultural rituals, women have the primary responsibility for the rice crop that sustains the community. In addition to the dangers posed by spirits, the sensitive rice soul can be damaged if the plants are treated disrespectfully. To protect this delicate soul, women harvest each seed head of rice individually using special knives. The handles of rice knives, awls, mat-weaving equipment, and other women's implements are carved by men and frequently are decorated with monstrous protective images. In the past, when courting, men often made tool handles for women as a sign of affection. Beadwork is the most colorful and technically complex art form in the Kenyah-Kayan tradition and is created exclusively by women. Like the beadwork made by Native Americans and Africans, Kenyah-Kayan beadwork represents a creative fusion of indigenous aesthetics with imported materials. Using European seed beads traded upriver from coastal cities, women fashion intricate beadwork appliques for hats, baskets, and the unique carriers in which they tote their infants. Larger beads of many types are highly valued. Up until the early twentieth century, a single example of the most sought-after variety, known as lukut sekala, could be exchanged in Borneo for a human slave.Beads still are believed to have magical properties and often serve as amulets.

Baby Carriers

The ba' or "baby carrier," unique to central Borneo, is worn on the mother's back. The child sits inside, facing forward with its legs hanging free on either side of her body. This position allows the child to look out over its mother's shoulder or sleep with its head resting on her back. Children are carried in the ba' until about the age of two.

Most ba' consist of a plaited basketwork core overlain with beadwork appliques and have a semicircular wooden seat to support the child. Sometimes they are strengthened with decorative wooden struts, which are often carved in the form of miniature guardian figures. Some elaborate examples, known as bënning, are fashioned entirely from wood and inlaid with precious disks of Conus shell. Here again, the motifs on baby carriers reflect social status. Human and aso images adorn the ba' and bënning of the nobility, and those of commoners have geometric designs.Kenyah-Kayan belief, a child's soul is not yet firmly attached to its body, so the ba' must also protect the infant's soul from danger. If the soul wanders off or is lured away by spirits, the child may die. The carved or beaded images on the baby carriers please the child's soul and keep it nearby. As the mother walks, the rattling of the shells, teeth, and other amulets attached to the ba' repel harmful spirits that threaten the child inside and the ancient beads attached to baby carriers are said to "warn" the mother of approaching danger by making particular sounds.

Despite more than a century of field research and collecting in Borneo,Kenyah-Kayan art remains poorly documented. Much work has yet to be done to reach a fuller understanding of this remarkable tradition. Based on what we do know, however, what becomes clear is the tremendous depth and range of the Kenyah-Kayan artistic achievement. Using a wide variety of materials and techniques, Kenyah-Kayan artists have produced some of the most visually striking images in indigenous Southeast Asian art.
The objects from this tradition that we choose to call "art" may reflect a Western rather than an indigenous aesthetic, but given the exquisite craftsmanship of many Kenyah-Kayan objects, it is difficult to believe that their creators were not motivated at least in part by a sheer delight in form and ornament. To defend the longhouse from enemy raids, Kenyah and Kayan warriors armed themselves with beautifully decorated weapons, costumes, and shields. To drive off malevolent spirits, men and women adorned their bodies, their tools, and their dwellings with protective imagery. It is in the subtle interplay of object and image, of sacred and mundane, of natural and supernatural, that Kenyah-Kayan art and life intersect, as men and women and their creations together become the guardians of the longhouse.

Gawai Dayak



Gawai Day or Gawai Dayak is a festive celebrated in Sarawak on 1st June every year is both a religious and social occasion. The word Gawai means a ritual or festival whereas Dayak is a collective name for the native races in Sarawak; the Iban, Bidayuh, Kayan, Kenyah, Kelabit, Murut peoplre and a few more. Thus Gawai Dayak literally means "Dayak Festival". Dayak would visit their friends and relatives on this day. Such visit is more known as "ngabang" in Iban language. Those far away would receive greeting cards.

How it all started can be traced back to a 1957 radio forum held by Mr Ian Kingsley, a radio programme organiser. This generated a lot of interest among the Dayak community. The mode of celebrations varies from place to place. Preparation starts very early. Tuak (rice wine) are brewed and traditional delicacies like penganan (cakes from rice flour, sugar and coconut milk) prepared. As the big day approaches, everyone will be busy with the general cleaning and preparing the food or cakes. On Gawai Eve, glutinous rice is roasted in bamboo (ngelulun pulut). In the longhouse, new mats will be laid out on the ruai (an open gallery which runs through the entire length of the longhouse). The walls of most bilik (rooms) and the ruai are decorated with pua kumbu (traditional blanket).

The celebration starts on the evening of 31st May. In most Iban's longhouse, it starts with a ceremony called Muai Antu Rua (to cast away the spirit of greediness), signifying the non-interference of the spirit of bad luck in the celebration. Two children or men each dragging a chapan (winnowing basket) will pass each family's room. Every family will throw some unwanted article into the basket. The unwanted articles will be tossed to the ground from the end of the longhouse for the spirit of bad luck.

Around 6 pm, miring (offering ceremony) will take place. Before the ceremony, gendang rayah (ritual music) is performed. The feast chief thanks the gods for the good harvest, ask for guidance, blessings and long life as he sacrifices a cockerel. Dinner will then be served at the ruai. While waiting for midnight, the folks gather and mingle at the ruai and berandau (talk/converse). Meanwhile, drinks, traditional cakes and delicacies are served.

At midnight, the gong is sounded. The tuai rumah will lead everyone to drink the Ai Pengayu (normally tuak for long life) and at the same time wishing each other "gayu-guru, gerai-nyamai" (long life, health and prosperity). A procession up and down the ruai called Ngalu Petara (Welcoming the Spirits) will follow. The celebration by now will get more merrier. Some will dance to the traditional music played. Others will sing the pantun (poems). In the town, the Dayak will gather at the community centres or restaurants to enliven the evening.

Other activities that may follow the next day include cock-fighting, demonstration of blowpipe skills and ngajat competitions. On this day, 1st June, the homes of the Dayaks will be opened to visitors. In the longhouses, there is a practises called masu pengabang where guests will be served with tuak by the host before they can enter the longhouse. Christian Dayaks will attend a church mass to thank God for the good harvest. Gawai Dayak celebration may last for several days. Visitors are most welcome to the homes of the Dayaks during the festival. It is also during this time of year that many Dayak weddings take place, as it is one of the rare occasions that all the members of the community assemble at the long house.

Up till 1962, British colonial government still refused to give recognition to the Dayak Day. Gawai Dayak was formally gazetted on 25th September 1964 as a public holiday in place of Sarawak Day. It was first celebrated on 1st June 1965 and became a symbol of unity, aspiration and hope for the Dayak community. Today, it is an integral part of Dayak social life. It is a thanksgiving day marking good harvest and a time to plan for the new farming season or activities ahead.

GAWAI BURONG

Gawai Burong is celebrated to honour the War God - Sengalang Burong. This festival is one of the greatest of all Iban festivals or ceremonies. It was first celebrated by Sera Gunting himself on his return from this grandfather longhouse. The other festivals of bird rituals, by order of importance and expense, includes Gawai Mata’, Enchaboh Arong, Gawai Kenyalang and Gawai Burong, the latter being celebrated in nine ascending stages.

Preparation for the Festival

1. Aum gawai - to discuss preparations for the gawai including fixing dates (nempoh hari), allocation of communal farm (bumai bedandang) where a portion of the harvest is allocated for ceremonial needs and setting time to begin brewing of the rice wine (tuak) which usually occurs about a month before the festival itself.

2. Nutok bram tuak - pounding and preparing glutinous rice for making rice wine.

3. Ngaga raran - erecting of cooking rack. This is done in the afternoon, after completed preparing the rice wine. The gawai chief waves a cock along the varendah (ruai) to announce the time to build the cooking racks for the rice, usually at the upper landing place of the longhouse. Gendang rayah music is played three times per round in the longhouse during the construction of the rack.

4. Ngerendam beras - soaking of the glutinous rice. This is done at about 6 p.m. after the gawai chief waves a cock to announce the event accompanied by gendang rayah music played for five times per round in the house during this event.

5. Ngelulun asi - Roasting of the rice in the bamboo. This is done in the afternoon of the next day, after the gawai chief waves his cock and make announcement. He leads a group of elders carrying offerings (piring), which he placed in a special platform called duran. After placing the offerings properly, he will sit near them until all the work at this stage is finished.

6. Sabong gawai - festival cockfighting is performed at the feast chief’s platform (tanju). Several fights are conducted there and it will be continued elsewhere on nearby clearing if the participants are still enthusiastic.

7. Makai pagi - morning meal are done to initiate the beginning of the festivals and are done along the varendah (ruai) of the longhouse.

8. Ngelumpang asi - taking the rice out of the bamboo is done after the morning meal with the feast chief waving his cock making the announcement. The rice is taken out of the bamboo and placed on a large mat where it is mixed with yeast (ragi) to start the fermentation process of wine making. The rice are then placed inside large jars and its top covered with clean clothes. Gendang rayah music is played three times per round. After this, other preparations take place like making of rice flour cakes, preparing domestic livestock for the next two weeks. The festival chief also organise a group of people to collect mandatory items from the jungle or river to be used for the offerings (piring) and these are:

• Pisang Jait (wild banana fruit);
• Engkudu and trong fruits;
• Lengki palm leaves and its shoot;
• Banjang palm leaves and its shoot;
• Batak shoots, flowers of buot, tepus, engkenyang and others planted on the padi field; and
• Smoked gerama crabs, kusing bats and fish with white scales.

9. Ngambi Ngabang - sending out invitations is done after materials of the offerings above are ready. A meeting is held by the gawai chief to confirm the number of longhouse to be invited. Four trusted men are sent out to send the invitation carrying a number of strings with knots (temuku tali), where each knot represent a day before the guest are to attend the feast. The guest untie one knot every day to remind them of the feast day. Meanwhile, a day before the big event, the women folks prepared the following items for the piring:

• Cook white, yellow and black glutinous rice;
• Fry penganan iri buns;
• Cook sungkui cake;
• Cook hard boiled eggs;
• Cook ketupat rice; and
• Fry popped rice (letup) and sago flour.

The Day of Nimang Pantar

The night before the festival is known as Malam Nimang Pantar. The bards bless the raised seats (pantar) erected for honoured guest with chants. Early in the morning of this day, the gawai chief wave his cock along the varendah of the longhouse and instructed every family to build a raised seat between the varendah (ruai) and passageway (tempuan) for the guest to sit on during the feast. Gendang rayah music is played three times per round during the construction work on the raised seat. The gawai chief family is the first family to erect the raised seats followed by others afterward. After the raised seat is completed, the gawai chief again wave his cock asking each family to spread their new mats on the floors along the varendah for the Nimang Pantar event.

Muai Antu Rua
Casting away the spirits of greed is done after spreading of the mats along the varendah. Two young men each drag a winnowing baskets (chapan) along the passageway, starting from the gawai chief room and going to both ends of the longhouse. As they pass each room, they shouted to the occupants to throw some unwanted articles into the basket as a material symbol of casting away all the bad luck or omen. The occupants discard their useless items and say the following words:

I present this to you, spirit of bad luck.
Take these things away to your country quickly.
The two men having received those items then toss away those items at both end of the longhouse cursing them as follows.
This is for you spirit of greed and bad luck.
Take these away to your country quickly.
These spirits are then not supposed to interfere with the festival celebration anymore.

Nyambut orang nasak
Welcoming the warrior who is to prepare the offerings. When a specially invited honoured warrior arrived at the clearing of the host longhouse, the gawai chief waves his cock to announce his arrival, cleared him of the bad omen he encountered in his journey to the feast, and invited him to the longhouse as honoured guest to the feast. The warrior is asked if he encounter any bad omens on his way to the feast. If he has, then 13 glasses of tuak wine (small amount) are poured out to cool off or neutralise the power of these omens. The warrior drink six glasses, while 7 glasses are drunk by the hosts, who after this will recite a short prayer while waving his cock above the warrior’s head:

Aku miau kai manok tu,
Minta ngagai Petara,
Ngasoh kitai grai nyamai lantang senang!
Enti burong kita jai,
Manok tu ngasoh iya manah.
Enti burong kita manah,
Manok tu ngasoh iya manah agi!

I wave this cock above your head,
Praying to Goad and the spirits,
To grant us health, happiness and peace.
If your omen is bad,
This bird will make it good!
If it is good,
This cock will make it better still!

A procession is then formed, led by the feast chief who carries a flag and a man with a tray of offerings. The followed by the warrior and his followers, followed by young men beating gongs and drums. As the procession marches along the varendah, young girls and men served them rice wine. The procession covers the whole stretch of the longhouse and turned back to the feast chief apartment where the guest were seated on the raised seat erected earlier.

After the warrior guests were seated, a bard waves a cock to honour the warrior, his guidiance spirit (if any) and his followers and recites a short prayer for the well being of everybody. A special rice wine called ai aus (fluid for quenching the thirst) is served. Then they are served another round of rice wine called ai untong (individual allocated share) where the amount served varies depending on the status and age with the warrior given 18 glasses of wine and others of lesser amount. Having drunk all this ai untong, they are all served another round of rice wine called ai basu (fluid for washing or cleanse oneself) which is received from the hands of women and girls amid the war cries from the audience. They are then served with various kind of food.

Niki ka Lemambang - welcoming the bards. The bards invited to grace the festival are welcome by the feast chief and his people in a similar way as that of welcoming the warrior earlier on. If they have seen a Ketupong bird crossing their path from left to right side in their journey to the festival, the omen is called raup ketupong, and must be cooled down by offering 50 glasses of rice wine to the bards. If the happening occurs closer to the bard’s house than the hosts, the bard must drink 30 glasses out of 50 glasses, the remainder being drunk by the feast chief and his friends. If the omen occurs nearer to the hosts house, then the party of the feast chief must drink the 30 glasses and the bards drink only 20 glasses.
If the bards have met a pimpin jaloh omen, the flying of Ketupong with repeated quick calls from the right to the left side of the road, the omen must be cooled down with 70 glasses of rice wine apportioned, similar to the above, between the two parties according to where the omen occurs.

After the bards welcoming reception at the pendai (landing place), the warrior who is appointed to kill a ritual piglet (manchak babi) at the foot of the stairway entrance to the longhouse, lead the procession from the landing place. Another warrior who has been appointed as tukang nasak follows him. Tukang nasak is the warrior appointed and in charge of dividing the main sacrificial offerings of the festival. Others will not be allowed to be involved in the division of the offerings. Behind the tukang nasak walk two women, one bringing pop rice which she showers along the route of the procession, the other brings yellow rice grain which she sprinkles as they walk. The bards who start to perform the first pengap song of the gawai as they enter the longhouse follow these hosts.
The procession, similar to the welcoming of the warrior event earlier, takes a turn at the end of the longhouse and proceeds to the gawai chief varendah. There the gawai chief welcome them with the customary waving of the cock above their heads. A similar ai aus rice wine is served and followed by ai untongs. The chief bard takes 80 glasses of wine, while his assistant (saut lemambang) receives 70 glasses. The rest receives 60 glasses.

The Night Of Nimang Pantar
The eve of the feast is known as Malam Nimang Pantar, where the bards bless the seats with ritual songs.

1. Ngerandang Jalai
Clearing a path the length of the varendah for the bards to sing along. After an evening meal is over, at about 9.00 pm, an influential man of the longhouse performs a berayah dance known as ngerandang jalai. The purpose is to clear the spiritual obstacles from the path along the whole longhouse varendah accompanied by gendang rayah music, and he traverses the varendah not more than three times.

2. Ngelalau
Enclosing the path already cleared. After ngerandang jalai dance is over, another important man performs the rayah dance to erect the lalau, a spiritual fence along the varendah so that the soul of the bards will not stray away as they perform. If this is the first time the people of the longhouse celebrated the Gawai Burong, the chief bard will lead his followers to perform the Ngiga Tanah Alai Berumah chants (looking for a suitable land for a house site). If the longhouse has celebrated the festival before, the lead bard will lead his followers to chant themed Ngerara Rumah (To recite why the house is made ready for a grand festival).

3. Ngading Iyang Lemambang
Invocations of the bard’s guardian spirits.

4. Nyerayong Pandong
Covering the shrine with pua kumbu.

5. Lemambang belaboh mengap niti rumah
The bards begin to sing their chants along the house varendah.

6. Beranchau Tikai
Spreading of the mats.

7. Lemambang berunsut ngena ubat enda layu
The bards anoint their body with charms to prevent themselves from being cursed by anyone or spirits.

8. Ngerintai Tuai Laut
Naming the spiritual Malay chiefs invited to the feast.

9. Ngerintai Tuai Dayak
Naming of the spiritual Dayak leaders to the feast.

10. Ngerintai Tuai Orang Panggau
Calling upon the spirits chiefs of Orang Panggau to the feast.

11. Ngerintai Tuai Orang Gellong
Calling upon the spirits chiefs of Orang Gellong to the feast.

12. Ngalu Petara
Welcoming the invited spirits to the feast. This event is a procession called ngalu Petara to the feast. It is led by the warrior who will divide the offerings (Tukang Nasak), followed by a master ceremony who will announce the purpose of the procession along the route, followed by two senior women, one carrying a plate of pop-rice which she will sprinkle along the route and another lady carrying a plate of offerings. They are followed by a band of festively dressed young men and girls from every family in the longhouse who carry rice wine. Behind them walk the musicians who play gendang panjai on the drums and gong.
As the procession goes up and down the varendah, a senior guest asks what the procession is for. The master ceremony replies that it is to welcome the invited guest from Panggau Libau, Gellong, the spirit of the Malay chiefs as well as the spirit of the iban ancestors to the feast.
The senior guest will then reply the master ceremony assuring him that the spirits mentioned has already arrived saying,
Petara amat udah datai.
Sida mai ubat serangkap genap,
mai pengaroh gembar tuboh,
ngasoh bumai bulih padi,
ngasoh bedagang menang babeli,
enggau ngasoh gerai nyamai nguan menoa.
This question and replies are repeated at every varendah of the longhouse occupant during the procession.

13. Ngiga Orang diasoh ngambi Sengalang Burong ngabang
Looking for the young men to send invitation to Sengalang Burong to the feast. The chief bards and his followers started a pengap chant narrating the process of choosing able-bodied spiritual guest to invite Sengalang Burong to the feast from his home in the dome of the sky. Their narratives covers the followings:
• Bujang Lelayang seduai Bujang Kesulai Begari deka nurun ngambi ngabang - A swift bird and a butterfly dressed themselves to fetch Sengalang Burong.
• Ambai mekal seduai enggau ubat - their sweetheart equip them with charm.
• Bujang Lelayang seduai Bujang Kesulai nurun ngejang ka rumah - a swift bird and a butterfly depart the longhouse.
• Datai ba menoa bunsu ribut - arrival at the country of the God of Wind where they seek his help in sending out the invitation to Sengalang Burong Home in the sky.
• Bunsu Ribut ngambi ngabang - The God of Wind sends out the festival invitation.
At this juncture, the bards end their ritual chant for the night of the nimang pantar.

The Festival Day
At about 7.00 am early next morning, a traditional cockfight takes place on the open-air varendah or tanju of the gawai chief. This is followed by the morning meal. After the meal, a ceremony to drive away bad spirit, similar to the previous day, is conducted. Then the old head trophy or skulls in the longhouse is taken down from their respective cluster and brought to the feast chief’s varendah (ruai) in a winnowing basket, which contains the offerings.
Shortly after the skulls have been brought to the feast chief’s varendah, one man kills a chicken and smears its blood on the sacred hornbill statue (Kenyalang) at the loft (sadau) of the longhouse. As he smears it with blood, he shouted three times. Then the statue is carried down to the feast chief varendah and is placed near the skulls.

1. Nyambut Pengabang (welcoming the guest)
When the invited guest arrives from their respective longhouse at the host-landing place, they are assembled and welcomed in the same manner as the warriors and the bards earlier. But the individual share of rice wine served to the Warleader, Penghulus and Tuai Rumah are different. Warleader are given 18 glasses of rice wine, Penghulus 17 and the longhouse headmen 12 glasses. Other people receive 8 or 9 glasses each.

2. Antu Pala dibai ngabang (old smoked skulls are brought to the feast)
If any guests brought their old smoked skulls to the feast, as custom requires, the bard who carry them will start to sing the timang antu pala chants as they lead the procession of the guests into the longhouse and along the varendah.

3. Kenyalang Lama dibai ngabang (The old sacred statues of the Rhinoceros hornbill are brought to the feast)
Descendant of past great chiefs and warleader who have kept old sacred statues of the Rhinoceros hornbill (Kenyalang) are expected to bring these with them from their longhouse to the feast. Before the statue is taken away from the loft where it is kept, a fowl must be killed and a man smears its blood on the statue whilst shouting war cries three times in succession.

The statue is then carried reverently along the path to the host longhouse. Near the longhouse, after dressing themselves at the host landing place, a bard and his team, including the host, welcome their guest similar to the previous event. A chief bard, who leads at the head of the procession, chanting their timang Kenyalang song, carries the hornbill statue. His fellow bard, who sings the chorus, follows him.

4. Ketanju lemai gawai deka nyadi (Celebration on the tanju on the eve of the feast)
At about 3.00 pm of the festival day, the feast chief waves a cock along the varendah and ask his people to spread their mats on his tanju platform and two tanju next to his on both sides. The women also decorate the tanju fence or railing with a selection of their best pua kumbu (woven tie-dye blankets). A noble warrior then kills a medium-size pig (babi sengajap), whose blood is smeared on the ritual pole (the tiang chandi or the kalingkang pole for the first stage of Gawai Burong), which will be erected at the centre of the tanju. A number of leading weavers will then decorate the pole with coloured cotton balls, an event called nali kalingkang. When the pole is raised, these leading weavers will then throw eggs and balls of glutinous rice at the pole from a distance, for according to Iban beliefs, whoever hit it and stick the glutinous rice there will become expert in weaving.
Warleader, noble chiefs of the area and their senior relations are seated in places of honour close to the tanju fence. The warriors sit around the foot of the ritual pole, and others crowd around the rest of the tanju. The bard will then come out to the tanju carrying the host longhouse smoked skulls and start chanting rituals song for the skull. After finished with this, the host rhinoceros hornbill statue is brought out together with the skulls brought by the guest to the tanju accompanied by bards who will chant the ritual song (timang Kenyalang) for the hornbill statue. After finished chanting their ritual songs, the bards then place the hornbill statue and the skulls at the foot of the ritual pole.
A miring ceremony is then conducted accompanied by gendang rayah music. First, a leading warrior and six other warriors divide the offerings into seven or more plates. Then a leading warrior recites a long prayer, nyampi, to summon Sengalang Burong and his associates to come down from heaven and join the celebration.

5. Berayah Ngelingi Pun Sabang (Dancing around the foot of cordyline plants)
After the miring ceremony, gendang rayah music is again played. At the same time, ketebong drums are beaten and steel adzes resound; this music called gendang pampat to call Sengalang Burong and his followers to come down from the sky. With repeated war cries, a band of warriors performed the war dance (ngajat rayah) around the cordyline fronds at the foot of the ritual pole (tiang chandi).

6. Antu Pala enggau Kenyalang dibai lemambang pulai ari tanju (The skulls and the hornbill statue are brought back by the bards from the open varendah to the longhouse varendah (ruai)
As the ceremony on the tanju ends, the skulls are brought to the ruai and placed in the winnowing basket with one bard left to look after the skull while the other bards enter the family room starting with the gawai chief’s own room, chanting their ritual songs called mupu ka antu pala (collections for the skulls).
As they bless each family with ritual songs from room to room, the bards are rewarded by senior lady representative of each room with rice wines, penganan buns, gold, silver, brass rings or money, which they bring back with them.

7. Kenyalang dibai Lemambang pulai ari tanju (The hornbill statue is brought by the bard from the open varendah)
The hornbill statue are brought back by the bard to the ruai and placed near the skulls. Their ritual songs accompany this and thus end the event at the tanju.

8. Makai lemai (dinner)After all the guests have returned from the tanju to the ruai, they are served supper.

9. Nyugu babi (combing the sacrificial pig’s hair)
After the supper, the feast chief waves a cock and announces that the nyugu babi procession is to take place. A senior man of the host longhouse is selected to carry a flag and leads the procession, followed by a second senior man carrying a spear for stabbing the pig and followed by the third man carrying a plate to be used for carrying the pig’s liver. Two influential ladies follow them carrying popped and coloured rice, the second, a brass container filled with water and a comb. They are followed by a group of maidens in traditional festive attire, who are followed by young men in full festive attire adorning ceremonial swords decorated with hornbill feathers and head dresses decorated with local pheasant bird (burong ruai) feather. Gendang panjai music is played as the procession marched around the whole length of the longhouse varendah three times. This procession ends at the feast chief tanju where the first influential lady throws the popped and coloured rice to the air whilst beseeching favourable omen, luck, fortune and well being from the pig liver. The second women then pour the water on each pig and comb its hair as she prays along. This done, the procession disperses and the guest are seated again on the gawai chief’s tanju to listen to the evening chants by the bards.
Before the bard could start singing their chant, the warriors performed the ngerandang jalai, ngelalau and Berayah pupu buah rumah ceremony similar to the event at the start of the gawai eve. As soon as the warrior’s event is finished, the bards start to perform their gawai chants, which is a continuation of the first evening chants. This time the narratives (pengap) started with the God of Wind arrival, which scared off the slave of Sengalang Burong, Bujang Pedang, due to its awesome noise and might as he blows its way into their country in the dome of the sky.
The sequences of events in the narratives (pengap) by the bards are as follows:
• Bujang Pedang ninga auh ribut lalu rari (Bujang Pedang hears the sound of a mighty wind and runs away)
• Bini Sengalang Burong chelap bulu (Sengalang Burong’s wife is chilled by the wind)
• Ribut mangka ka rumah Sengalang Burong (the wind blows hard on Sengalang Burong longhouse)
• Ngiga kayu rumbang tutong (looking for hollow wood for the drum)
• Sida Ketupong Mansang ngayau (Ketupong and his friends go to war looking for fresh head to be brought to the human feast)
• Menoa Besi Api (The land of the flint)
• Menoa Tuchok (The land Tuchok lizard)
• Menoa Sandah (The land of Sandah)
• Menoa Rioh (The land of Rioh insect)
• Menoa Nendak (The land of Nendak bird, white rumped shama)
• Menoa Beragai Samatai Manang Burong (The land of Beragai bird)
• Menoa Kelabu Papau Nyenabong (The land of Kelabu Papau bird)
• Menoa Pangkas tauka Kutok (The land of Pangkas bird or Kutok)
• Menoa Bejampong (The land of Bejampong bird)
• Menoa Embuas (The land of Embuas bird)
• Menoa Ketupong (The land of Ketupong bird)
• Menoa Kunding Burong Malam (The land of Kunding)
• Menoa Rintong Langit Pengulor Bulan
• Bala Ketupong nyurong lalu ngaga langkau kayau (Ketupong and his warriors erect the war hut)
• Ketupong enggau Beragai matak bala (Ketupong and Beragai led their warriors to war)
• Bala Ketupong nuntong ba rumah Beduru (Nising) (Ketupong’s troop landed at Beduru’s longhouse)
• Wa Puji (Songs of praise)
• Wa Empas (Songs of anger)
• Pulai Ngabas (Return from spying)
• Sengalang Burong nusoi mimpi diri (Sengalang Burong relates his dream)
• Mimpi Ketupong (Ketupong relates his dream)
• Mimpi Beragai (Beragai relates his dream)
• Bala Ketupong ngerampas (Ketupong’s troop start to attack)
• Datai ba tinting pangka sealing pulai nyerang (Arrive at the ridge where the warriors shout victoriously on return from battle)
• Bini Sengalang Burong nyambut igi balang (Sengalang Burong’s wife receives the precious skull)
• Aki Lang Sengalang Burong mai ngabang (Sengalang Burong leads his people to attend the festival)
• Mansa Tembawai Lama Sengalang Burong (passing the old house site of Sengalang Burong)
• Menoa Bujang Jegalang (The land of Bujang Jegalang)
• Mansa Batu Ansah (Passing the whetstone)
• Mansa pun buloh berani (passing the foot of Buloh Berani)
• Pintu Langit (Arrival at the door of the sky)
• Bala Sengalang Burong ngetu ba pintu langit ke rapit (Sengalang Burong and his followers stops at the closed door of the sky)
• Menoa Aki Ungkok (The country of Aki Ungkok)
• Menalan Sabong (The cockfighting ring)
• Ngerara rampa menoa (Appreciating the view of the landscape)
• Menoa Raja Siba Iba (Raja Siba Iba’s country)
• Menoa Burong Raya (The country of Burong Raya bird)
• Menoa Sera Gindi (The country of Sera Gindi)
• Menoa Bengkong apai Kuang Kapong (the country of Bengkong, father of Kuang Kapong bird)
• Menalan Besai (a widely cleared space)
• Menoa Bhiku Bunsu Petara (The country of high priest of the god)
• Menoa Selampandai (The country of Selampandai)
• Menoa Raja Rengayong Kijang (The country of Raja Rengayong the barking deer)
• Menoa Rusa Bunji (The country of sambar deer)
• Menoa Raja Remaung (The country of the tiger chief)
• Kendi Aji (The road junction)
• Kampong Baung (The lonely forest)
• Menoa Aki Dunju (The country of Aki Dunju)
• Menoa Durong Biak (The country of the younger Durong)
• Menoa Bunsu Petara (The country of Bunsu Petara)
• Menoa Bangkong (The landing place)
• Bala Sengalang Burong mandi (Sengalang Burong and his followers bathes)
• Bini Sengalang Burong mandi (Sengalang Burong’s wife bathes)
• Bala Sengalang Burong begari (Sengalang Burong and his followers dressed up for the festival)
• Bala Indu besanggol (The women plait their hair into buns)
• Bala Sengalang Burong niki ka rumah (Sengalang Burong and his followers walks into the feasting house)

10. Ngalu ka Sengalang Burong (Welcoming Sengalang Burong)
This event is done early in the morning with the gawai chief waving his cock announcing the arrival of Sengalang Burong. A procession is held heralding the arrival of Sengalang Burong and his followers. The gawai chief is leading the procession followed by another man who wave a cock to honour both the visible and invisible (spiritual) guests. After him walks two influential women, one carrying a plateful of pop rice and another, a plate of offerings. Behind them walk the girls and young men who wear traditional dress. The girls carry empty wine glasses, and the young men have a bottle of rice wine each. At the end of the procession walks a band of young men who play music on drums and gongs.
After they circled the longhouse varendah three times, and have reached the gawai chief’s varendah, they stopped and sit down facing the honoured warriors and guests and served them as a symbolic serving of the Sengalang Burong, his followers and other invited spirits. The host, in this instance, are represented by our spiritual heroes of Panggau, Keling and Laja, who will entertain Sengalang Burong himself, and is narrated in the pengap chant of the bards.

11. Lemambang Nenjang Sengalang Burong (The bards sing a song in praise of Sengalang Burong)
In this event, the bards faced the most honoured guest, who is sitting together with other important guest along the upper varendah (Ruai atas). This honoured guest is now representing Sengalang Burong while the others represents his son-in-laws and other followers.
After this, the night’s chants of the bards are concluded. Another nyugu babi procession is held at about 6.30 am and the pigs are sacrificed, their liver being divined by the experts. A morning meal is also served again.

End Of The Festival
1. Miau ka manok kena Ketanju
waving of the cock to announce the ceremony at the open varendah. The gawai chief waves a cock and announces the second event on the open varendah is about to happen, as on the previous day and invited every guest to gather at the tanju.

2. Miring
Dividing the offerings. This is performed by the warrior groups who prepare seven offerings on seven trays at the tanju. When finished, it is covered using the best pua kumbu blankets placed carefully over it. These offerings are placed at the foot of the ritual pole, and some of the offerings are hung at each end of the longhouse roof. While miring is going on, the bards once more bring the skull and the hornbill statue to the tanju accompanied by their ritual song called timang antu pala and timang Kenyalang respectively, same as what was done on the previous day.

After the skull has been placed on the winnowing basket (chapan) and the hornbill statue placed closed to the skulls, gendang rayah music is played, while the leading warriors (raja berani) performed the ngerandang jalai dance circling the tanju three times to clear the space off the evil spirits. Then followed by a rayah dance performed by ordinary warrior (bujang berani) known as ngelalau, also circling the tanju three times. This serves to fence the path already cleared by the raja berani warriors earlier. Shortly after ngelalau dance, older men representing each longhouse invited to the gawai, perform another dance, which is called Berayah Pupu Buah Rumah. They encircle the tanju three times as was previously done.

After the dances are over, one of the most influential war leaders recites a long sampi or prayer, inviting Sengalang Burong and his followers to come down from haven to attend the feast. As he recites this prayer, gendang pampat music is played. Another man beats an iron adze (bendai) inviting the spirits including the spiritual war heroes from Panggau Libau and Gellong world to join the feast. The invited guest like the warleader, hereditary chiefs and community elders has been seated in their respective place of honour during this part of the ceremony.
In this event, the warriors eat raw or half-roasted chicken and pork meat at the foot of the ritual pole. This is done to encourage the invited spirits, who are believed to have come to do likewise, as a show of fearlessness, bravery or courage especially among the warrior groups. Food and rice wine are continuously served throughout this event. Fearsome war cries can be heard frequently as the event climaxed.

Eventually, as the ceremony comes to an end, the bards carried the smoked skulls and the sacred hornbill statue inside the longhouse again. The statue is brought by the bard into individual family room to bless each family as they chant their ritual timang Kenyalang song. The bard, who bears the skull, will leave the skull at the Gawai Chief varendah (ruai) inside a winnowing basket and they themselves (without the skull) will enter individual family room chanting the timang antu pala songs.

While other bards performed the timang Kenyalang and timang antu pala chant at individual family room, another bard who sang the Gawai Burong festival songs (pengap) during the previous night, start to bless one woman from each family. These women have been gathered and seated in line on the pantar of the Gawai chief varendah (ruai). This event is called Denjang Indu (the blessings of the women). The songs may be repeated many times, as they need to bless these women representatives individually and may take considerable time.

3. Ngamboh
Forging war knives for the gawai host. Following the bedenjang ceremony, the bards chant another song to symbolises forging (ngamboh) of the war knives for the host. Other chants including ngiga tanah (to look for suitable farming land) to symbolise the blessing for good farming years to come. The final chant by the bards would be the mulai ka samengat (sending back the spirits and the souls) to the Peak of Rabong Mountain, the domain of the spirit and souls of the bards and shamans.

After the bards have finished chanting their ritual songs, the feast chief waves a cock along the varendah to announce that the feast has ended. Their respective owners have returned all skulls presented during the festival to their former places, and the hornbill statue returned to their honourable place at their owner’s loft for reuse in future.

After the conclusion of the ceremony, the people of the host longhouse will avoid normal work for seven days. Gendang rayah music is played every day before sunset to invite universal spirits to visit the house and give their blessings during these seven-day periods.

At the end of seventh day, the ritual-offering pole (tiang chandi or kalingkang) is dismantled and the cordyline palm (sabang) is planted on the upriver side of the house as a mark of respect to commemorate the festival just completed.

BEJAMPONG


Among the omen birds, Bejampong (pictured left) whose earthly manefestation is Crested Jay - Platylophus Galericulatus, is known for his swiftness and his agility, is second in command. The son of Bujang Kengkang Kerama, Duat Igat Junggo Tandang. He is married to Endu Kechapah Dulang Midong, Endu Kumang Bunga Ketunsong, the third daughter of Sengalang Burong.

Bejampong came from a country called Tuchong Tugong Baas, like the heads of male cobras, situated at tibak rias ridge, like dry timber waiting to be fired (di tuchong tugong baas, baka pala tedong lelaki, di tinting tibak rias, baka rebaan nganti hari).

Praise name (Ensumbar or julok):
Geliga Tandang, Bujang Sambai Bejampong, Berayang Tangang Penatong Adong. Or Bunga Jarau Sagupong, ngeretong ka parabong rumah raya.

Special possession:
Rarak creeper to plug the nostril of the skull and danan creeper for tying the group of skulls above the hearth (ngembuan rarak ambi ka pasak lubang idong enggau danan digaga ka mudan tinggi begantong)

BERAGAI



Beragai Chelegai Rarik Lampong (pictured left), nicknamed Samatai whose earthly manefestation is Scarlet Rumped Trogon - Harpactes Duvaucelii is also called Burong Gaga, the “happy bird” due to the laughing sound of his call. He serves as shaman healer (manang). The son of Sega Salempa Wi Selegai, Bujang Sababang Bunga Ringkai, he is married to second daughter of Sengalang Burong, Endu Langgu Ketunsong Ngembai, Dayang Kumang Bunga Entekai.

He came from hillock country surrounded by ubah trees, whose fruits weighed down its branches, in a forest full of palah reeds, whose stalk are red as the color of their stem (Munggu Gulu Kayu madang ubah ke bebuah lentor batang, di kerapa madang palah betating mirah nyerenang takang).

Praise name (Ensumbar or Julok):
A long sword that strikes the ribs (Beragai ke bejulok Perapang Pedang Panjai, Lempai ka di kerigai rusok rinda). Another name is Beraga the large plate for receiving lady’s head (Beragai bejulok pinggai besai penerima pala berambau dara).


Special possession: Possess danan cane for binding the circular frame, the kechupak tree for making the cross piece of the curled chandi pole (Ngembuan danan ambi ka mudan, gelong ka bengkong. Ngembuan kechupak ambi ka ilak chandi begelong).

Embuas


Embuas (pictured left) whose earthly manefestation is Banded Kingfisher - Lacedo Pulchella, is the son of Raja Taka. He is married to Endu Kechapang Dulang Mas, Iyak Ketupang Bunga Libas, the fifth daughter of Sengalang Burong. He is known for his weeping call sound, which is very important, when it is heard near the enemy territory. It indicates the weeping cry of the enemies in defeat.

He came from a country, which is hollow, like the cover of a basong basket (di tanah lengkap, baka saap moa basong). Embuas is also nicknamed wave of feathered headress (Tipas Sibui Jabong) or Embuau (the weeping sound).

Praise name (Ensumbar or Julok):
A swift boat which passed a troop on the march (Bangkong Deras ke bejalai kebas-kebas ngelimpas moa bala)

Special possession:
Owns a randau malam creeper to tie up a house support and a group of meregang tree used for timber to construct a house ridge (ngembuan randau malam ambi ka tanggam tanchang sukong enggau madang kayu meregang tetak luntang lumpong ka parabong)

Nendak

The eight omen bird, Nendak (pictured left), whose earthly manefestation is white rumped shama - copsychus malabaricus is a poor hanger-on rather than a relation, carries omen of considerably less importance. He is the son of Sibal Ibal, who live in the valley at the foot of the waterfall, along streams surrounded by trees (Sibal Ibal ke diau di lebak banchak wong, di sungai rintai lulong).


Praise name (Ensumbar or julok):
One whose breast is red and whose back is white, which has spot around his waist (bedada masak belakang burak, ke bepantak ngarong ka punggong or Tangkal Puting Pemanggai or Berani agi biak, Sungkak Papan Ladong).

Special possession:
Charm which blinds the wild boar used by men to set trap around the animal track (engkerabun jani kena orang meti ngelingi sepan, lak ka jelu jampat nan). A charm that would stop an animal on his track and quickly brought to bay. This charm is also used to blind the enemy during raids or ambush.

Burong Malam or Kunding

The seventh omen bird, Kunding or Burong Malam (literally means “night bird“) is actually a cricket, is the son of Bujang Sakunding Mupong. He is the husband of Sengalang Burong’s youngest daughter Endu Dara Chempaka Tempurong Alang, Patri Langit Dayang Kumang who was expelled from the longhouse after she unwittingly commited incestuous relationship with her nephew, Sera Gunting.

Burong Malam’s country is at the valley overgrown by senggang palm, like feathers which decorates a hat, at a country overgrown by lemba palm, like feathers which decorates the crown of a turban (di lembang madang senggang, baka lanjai bulu burong, di lempa madang lamba, baka lagaa tandok labong).

Praise name (Ensumbar or julok):
“Night Bird” whose teeth are black (Burong Malam ke begeman begelintum dabong or Burong malam bejulok ipoh kinying ngelaboh ka nyumboh siti nengeri).

Special possession: None

Kelabu Papau


Kelabu Papau (pictured), whose earthly manefestation is Diard’s Trogon - Harpactes Diardi, is the son of Jimbun Bulan who looks after the path of the Sambar deer, Kachendai Bunga Ringkai, who settles at the borderland near the offerings (Jimbun Bulan ngemata ka enturan jalai gambang, Kechendai Bunga Ringkai, Berindik di punggai Jaa Pemangkang). He is married to the sixth daughter of Sengalang Burong, Endu Moa Puchong Pengabas Pinggai Besai Nadai Meretas.

He is the people of Empelai Tinggi Bandir, The people of Nyelutong tree, situated opposite the Kayu Ukir tree (Orang Empelai Tinggi Bandir, Orang di nyelutong ke dibandong kayu ukir).

Praise name (Ensumbar or Julok):
Fiery ash, which sets fire to the ridge of a house (Lachau Buntu Papau Nyenabong, bejulok Sintau Kemarau Hari, Rendang-rendang mandang ka dagang nengeri china. Kedua bali nama iya Apu Mau Nulang Perabong)

Special possession:
Luop charm (tied to a boat to render it invisible) to cover the boat’s bow; Sebangki api (charm that gives instant strength) for cutting the edge of a shield. (Ngembuan luop ambi ka tutop kemudi bangkong, sebangki api ka pengetis kaki terabai rimbong)

Ketupong

Ketupong (pictured), whose earthly manefestation is Rufous Piculet - Sasia Abnormis, is the son of Bujang Sabenang Mali Lebu. He is the most senior son-in-law of Sengalang Burong. He is married to Endu Dara Tinchin Temaga, Endu Cherebok Mangkok China, the eldest daughter of Sengalang Burong. He is also a natural leader of the other omen birds. Also nicknamed Bekubu Entis Bulu Burong Ketupong, who speaks but once and irrevocably. A man of few words, he must be heeded when he makes his appearance. Ketupong has two manifestations; when he calls with a slow tik-tik-tik sound, the message is important. His fast repeated alarm cry is known as Jaloh which indicate that the message is treated with utmost urgency. Ketupong’s country is at Buloh Laing Ridge, which sounds like a long tune from a flute, reaching the cool resam grass, sounds of a damsel playing her Jew’s harp at night, that is the country of Bujang Sabenang Mali Lebu, whose nickname is Anggu Sengkayau Baju (Di tinting buloh laing, Munyi kesuling panjai seput, Dideman madang resam, Munyi dara ganggam bekachu malam taja beka dengut, Menoa Bujang Sabenang Mali Lebu, Kadua bali nama iya Anggu Sengkayau Baju) Praise name (Ensumbar or Julok): Hairy spear that strikes at the centre of the breast (Ketupong bejulok Sangkoh Agong Ngentong di beradong arong dada). Special possession: A man of few words, he must heeded when he makes his appearance.

Long House




















Due to the modernization, perhaps our future generation only can see the real longhouse here at Kampung Budaya Kuching.

Buah Dabai

One of local favorite fruits called buah “Dabai” in Iban dialect

Eagle











Eagle is one amongst birds that can be found in Sarawak

Adat Muai Tebalu

Tebalu MataTebalu Mata

Nyadi pemesai adat tebalu enda sebaka. Kebuah pia, laban nitih ka gaia pengawa
enggau pendiau urang ke diambi tebalu nya leboh iya agi idup.

Enti iya ke balu nya bisi buya bebuti betundi enggau urang sekumbang iya ke balu
nya, iya tau kena tungu kaban belayan ari urang ke mati nya nitih ka adat Tunggu
Tebalu. Tang enti iya semina bisi bengepan, ngena pekayan ke manah leboh agi ke
agi balu, ari nya leboh urang ngambi tebalu, iya dikupas urang enda bekuku, enda
bebulu - reti nya semua benda ke dipinta urang ti ngupas iya nya, diambi urang
magang.

Enti urang ke ngambi tebalu nya nadai sangka ka iya bisi beleman, bisi bemacham
enggau urang sekumbang ke balu, tebalu iya diambi urang nitih ke adat ke patut,
reti nya benda ke dipinta urang nya enda diambi urang abis. Sekeda dipulai ka
urang ngagai iya, kena ngaul iya mengkang diri sebilik.

Pemesai Adat Tebalu
Pemesai Adat Tebalu enda sebaka. Enti urang ke mati nya, urang tau serang, tau
pandang, pemesai adat tebalu iya 16 igi jabir. Enti iya tau kayau, tau mulau,
tebalu iya 15 igi jabir.

Enti iya manok sabong, manok pukong leboh urang ke ngayau kelia, tebalu iya 14
igi jabir.

Enti urang nya manok tansang, manok gelanggang, tang iya nadai dengah, tebalu
iya 13 igi jabir.

Udah nya tebalu urang bukai nitih ka gaia pendiau enggau pengawa iya diau di
menoa, lalu nitih ka penuai umor. Tang naka pengemit tebalu lelaki, iya nya sigi
Panding.

Tebalu Mansau

Nyadi reti Tebalu Mansau, urang ke balu nya diambi tebalu leboh maia iya merantu
laki tauka bini ke udah nadai. Nya alai maia urang ngupas urang ke ngena Tebalau
Mansau nya, kejang urang deka nganjong Buloh, pagi udah nyadi Gawai Antu.

Nyadi pasal urang ke diambi Tebalu Mata nya tadi, taja iya udah kena kupas, tang
nya ukai ngasoh iya enda tau mela urang ke udah mati nya enggau papan enggau
rugan.

Tebalu Indu
Tebalu urang ke indu mega sama jalai enggau tebalu urang ke lelaki. Reti nya,
enti urang nya indu takar, indu gar, tebalu iya besai ari enggi indu bukai.
Nangkan ka nya tebalu indu ke tau muntang, tau nengkebang (urang ke nemu nenun).
Udah nya ditangkan ka tebalu indu asi, indu ai (reti nya indu ke empu bilik,
empu ruai ke selalu endor orang begelumu, endor orang begempuru).

Udah nya baru ditangkan ka tebalu indu paku, indu tebu, indu temuai, indu lawai
(reti nya indu ke teleba alai urang nemuai, teleba alai urang datai).

Taman Negara Mulu (Bahasa Malaysia)



Terletak di sebelah utara negeri Sarawak, Taman Negara Mulu merupakan salah satu daripada destinasi pelancungan yang terkenal di Malaysia, khasnya di Sarawak. Memiliki bentuk geografi yang unik, yang terdiri daripada gua batu kapur, lingkaran air batu yang jernih serta dilitupi oleh hutan dara tropika, Taman Negara Mulu merupakan tempat yang bukan hanya sesuai untuk orang-orang yang inginkan ketenangan jauh dari hiruk pikuk kota metropolitan bahkan juga amat sessuai bagi mereka yang menginginkan kegiatan yang lasak.

Untuk sampai ke Taman Negara Mulu, anda perlu menaiki pesawat dari Miri dan terus ke Taman Negara Mulu atau mungkin anda ingin merasakan kelainan dengan menggunakan jalan lain iaitu dengan menggunakan bot express dari Kuala Baram, Miri ke Marudi dan kemudian ke Taman Negara Mulu.

May 2002, merupakan kali terakhir saya menjenguk kawasan Mulu yang juga merupakan tempat asal saya. Saya masih dapat merasakan kedinginan yang mencekam pada waktu pagi dengan kabus masih menutupi sungai yang membuatkan hanya aliran sungai yang kedengaran. Pada waktu senja nya pula, ribuan layang-layang, berputar-putar di angkasa menunggu untuk kembali ke sarang masing-masing yang terletak didalam gua. Panorama indah ini sering kali mengamit jiwa untuk segera kembali.

Taman Negara Mulu, mencipta sejarahnya yang tersendiri apabila diiktiraf sebagai salah satu Khazanah Dunia. Pengiktirafan ini, secara tidak langsung telah meletakkan nama Sarawak di mata dunia serta Malaysia secara amnya. Ia juga menjadi kebanggaan penduduk negeri Sarawak khususnya penduduk tempatan.

Kemajuan Taman Negara Mulu, sedikit sebanyak telah memberikan perubahan sosio-ekonomi kepada penduduk tempatan. Pertambahan jumlah pelancung telah memberikan penduduk tempatan pasaran yang lebih luas untuk memasarkan hasil craft tangan mereka. Ianya juga telah mewujudkan sektor persusahaan kecil-kecilan seperti perusahaan pengangkutan, pemandu pelancung, penginapan, sajian dan lain-lain yang berkenaan dengan industri pelancungan.
Bak kata pepatah, bersakit-sakit dahulu bersenang-senang kemudian. Tetapi bagi penduduk di Taman Negara Mulu, pepatah ini harus disebut secara songsang. “Bersenang-senang dahulu, bersakit-sakit kemudian”. Setiap apa yang diberi pasti mempunyai harga yang tersendiri.

Kemajuan Taman Negara Mulu bukan hanya memberi impak yang besar dalam soal menaikkan taraf hidup penduduk tempatan, malah secara perlahan-lahan ianya juga merampas hak penduduk tempatan sebagai masyarakat peribumi. Bagaikan api dalam sekam, perlahan-lahan kerajaan mula menidakkan hak penduduk tempatan. Sedikit demi sedikit tanah rizab penduduk tempatan dikatogerikan sebagai tanah milik Taman Negara dan secara beransur-ansur kawasan perburuan serta penanaman terutama bagi masyarakat orang asli (Penan) menjadi kawasan larangan. Malah secara beperingkat-peringkat industri sokongan yang tumbuh mula disaingi oleh pihak atau kuasa luar. Perubahan ini tidak dapat diterima oleh rata-rata masyarakat tempatan yang sudah pasti tidak akan dapat bersaing dengan pihak yang lebih berkemampuan. Dan kemuncaknya, berlakulah perkara yang tidak diingini yang mengakibatkan sebilangan penduduk tempatan ditahan pihak yang berkuasa dalm tahun 90'an.

Adalah menyedihkan melihat penduduk tempatan menjadi buruh ditanah sendiri. Persoalannya?? Perlukah kita merelakan hak milik kita diambil oleh orang lain dan hanya dapat memberikan kita rasa “BANGGA”. Berbaloikah untuk kita menyimpan “Khazanah Dunia” dan pada masa yang sama melepaskan hak keistemewaan kita sendiri??















View of Wind Cave

Raft Race















One of the most popular activities organized to boost Sarawak tourism industry. Above picture’s captured from Raft Race event which taken place in Kapit Division. Kapit Division having this event annually besides other place around Sarawak. For more information on Kapit Raft race you can log on to Kapit Division Website at http://www.kapitro.sarawak.gov.my/

Napei Kanen (Wrapping rice)















Unique way’s how to serve meal. Rice wrapped with a leaf called “daun lung” (Iban dialect). After finish your meal you just can throw it. It still practiced by Orang Ulu especially those who stay in the long house

Wong Pelagus















If you want to feels the real adventuring feeling you may try travel by express boat passing this place.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

To Reduce Stress Simply

It pays to learn how to remain in a positive frame of mind even when a few hurdles pop up in your path without warning. When something negative or scary happens, try to see what you can do to change the situation.

Here are few tips:-

*Learn to laugh. Laugh at yourself, laugh at the situation & laugh with others. Humour is an “upper”. It improves your mood & relieves stress

*Spend more time with friends and relatives. Choose friends you can relax with and who will listen to you when you are stressed

*Try stress management techniques – meditation, yoga, stretching, getting a massage, reading or taking nap.

*Talk to yourself everyday. Say positive things. For instance, ‘I can do it’, ‘I’m getting better’, ‘I can ask for help when I need it’, ‘I love you or I’m all right’.

*Stress often signifies that your body needs to change. Use this signal to sort out your life and implement the necessary changes. Draw up a detailed list of what needs to be changed and then discuss those changes with peoples who you think will able to help you. Of course, you need to choose this group with care.

*When you are stressed, imagine how you would advise a friend who was undergoing the same stress. Then follow your advice.

*Don’t blame yourself for everything. It’s certainly not a productive response

If you have tried several of the above mentioned methods but don’t seem to be able to handle your stress, you may need to seek help from a professional counselor

Bruce Lee, alive and kicking

In the southern Chinese city of Shunde, government officials are finalising plans to build a Bruce Lee theme park, complete with a memorial hall and large statue of the man they call the town’s favourite “son”. Never mind that the legendary Chinese American kung fu star was born in San Francisco and visited Shunde only briefly, when he was a boy of 5. Shunde is the hometown of Lee’s father & grandfather, and that was enough for local resident Wang Dechao to prod the government to plough $125,000 into opening a Bruce Lee museum in an old tea shop in Shunde in 2002.

Since then, more than 300,000 people, some paying $1 for admission, have come to see its collection of Bruce Lee’s rare letters, film posters and other memorabilia. Wang, who now works for Shunde’s culture and sports authority, hopes to move the museum to new theme park, which he says is projected to cost $19 million and open before 2008 summer Olyimpics in Beijing.

China’s National Network, has plans to produce a 40-part documentary about Bruce Lee. Meanwhile, Bruce Lee’s brother, Robert, is planning a movie about him, as is one of Lee’s former students.

Although he has been dead for 33 years, Bruce Lee remains an enduring powerful cultural figure. What if, people often ask, he hadn’t died at age 32, barely a month before the release of his blockbuster film, Enter The Dragon? Most believe that film would have catapulted him into the ranks of Hollywood’s superstars. But what then?

It’s a question that his widow, Linda Cadwell often asks herself. “ I think about it a lot – what he missed,” Cadwell said. “Professionally, I’m sure he probably would have stayed in performing industry, but maybe not always as an actor, because he loved to write, he would be 66 this year.” Lee died in Hong Kong on July 20, 1973 from a cerebral edema.

He is an icon that is known throughout the world, his legend and myth seems to grow over the years. Indeed, although he achieved stardom three decades ago, Lee’s fame has hardly dimmed. He is still regarded as one of the most influential martial artists of the 20th century, a precursor to today’s kung fu stars. In his teens, he had formal martial arts training in Wing Chun kung fu under a master teacher in Hong Kong. Lee’s style was known as Jeet Kune Do (Way of the Interception Fist). He was famous for a combat technique called the “one-inch punch”

But it was not only his skill at martial arts that won fans, Cadwell said, it was his philosophy and way of life. Around the world, his likeness has taken on symbolic life of its own, even in places as far as Mostar, Bosnia, where life-size statue of Lee poses in a defensive fighting-posture stands. The bronze statue erected last year, serves as a symbol of healing ethnic tensions in land that 1990s was racked by civil war.

That kind of enduring resonance is why Cadwell his widow’s and his daughter Sanon Lee are taking steps to ensure his reputation stays intact.

Motion Sickness

What is motion sickness?
If you've ever been sick to your stomach on a rocking boat or a bumpy airplane ride, you know the discomfort of motion sickness. Although it doesn't cause long-term problems, motion sickness can make life miserable, especially for people who travel a lot.

People can feel sick from the motion in cars, airplanes, trains, amusement park rides, or on boats or ships. Motion sickness is sometimes called airsickness or seasickness. Video games, flight simulators, and looking through a microscope also can cause motion sickness; in these cases, the eyes see motion, but the body does not sense it.

Children from 5 to 12 years old, women, and the elderly seem to be more susceptible to motion sickness, while it is rare in children younger than age 2.

What are the symptoms?
Common symptoms of motion sickness are a general sense of not feeling well (malaise), nausea, vomiting, headache, and sweating.

What causes motion sickness?
Motion sickness occurs when the inner ear, the eyes, and other areas of the body that detect motion send unexpected or conflicting messages to the brain. One part of your balance-sensing system (your inner ear, vision, and sensory nerves that help you keep your balance) may indicate that your body is moving, while the other parts do not sense motion. For example, if you are in the cabin of a moving ship, your inner ear may sense the motion of big waves, but your eyes don't see any movement. This leads to a conflict between the senses and results in motion sickness.

What is the treatment for motion sickness?
It's best to try to prevent motion sickness, because symptoms are hard to stop once they start. Once motion sickness has developed, relief comes only after the motion has stopped. If you can't stop the motion, you may be able to reduce the feeling of queasiness by sitting or lying down in an area that appears to move the least. In an airplane, sit near the wings; on a boat or ship, stay on the deck, looking at the horizon, or try to sit or lie down in a cabin near the center of the ship.

You also can take prescription and nonprescription medication to prevent or reduce symptoms of nausea and vomiting. Most medications work best if you take them before you travel. The medications work in different ways. Some are sedatives that minimize the effect of motion, while others reduce nausea and vomiting.

Many people try other methods of preventing motion sickness, such as taking powdered ginger capsules or wearing acupressure wristbands. It is safe to try these methods, and they might offer some relief; however, there is little evidence that they prevent motion sickness.

Motion Sickness – Home Treatment

The following tips may help you avoid motion sickness when you travel:
-When you fly, request a seat near the wings. When you travel on a ship, try to book a cabin near the middle of the vessel and near the waterline.

-Move your head as little as possible. Try to keep your head still by resting it on a headrest. Head movement can increase motion sickness.
-When you're on a boat, try to get fresh air. When you're on the deck, look at a fixed point on the horizon.

-When you travel by car, avoid reading or watching TV or videos.

-Avoid drinking alcohol or eating a heavy meal before travel.

-Do not eat or drink during short trips.

-During an extended flight, eat small meals of foods that are easy to digest, and drink small amounts of fluids either before or during a flight to help reduce nausea and vomiting.

-Try to avoid strong odors and spicy foods.

If you do have symptoms of motion sickness, the following may help:
• Eat a few dry soda crackers.
• Sip on clear, carbonated drinks such as ginger ale.
• Get some fresh air.
• Lie down or at least keep your head still.

Jet lag: How to reduce it

Jet lag affects individuals in different ways and to different degrees. Flying across three or more time zones often disrupts your normal sleep-wake cycle. As a result, your internal body clock wakes you during the night and makes you sleepy during the day. Other symptoms of jet lag include irritability, decreased concentration, dizziness, headaches, muscle soreness, and constipation or diarrhea. These symptoms can be aggravated by stress, lack of sleep, dry air, dehydration and a bumpy airplane ride.

Keep in mind that it generally takes one day at your destination to fully adjust for a one-hour time zone change. Also, the symptoms of jet lag are often worse when traveling eastward rather than westward.

There's no single, proven method for preventing or "curing" jet lag. But there are some things you might try:

-Before your trip, reset your internal clock. Several days before your trip, gradually adjust your sleep schedule to more closely match the time at your destination. For example, if you're traveling eastward, start going to bed an hour earlier every day and getting up an hour earlier.

-Choose a daytime flight when possible to avoid sleep loss and fatigue. Make sure you are well rested and not sleep-deprived before your trip. Also, wear loose, comfortable clothing on your flight so that you can relax and rest more easily.

-During the flight, drink plenty of fluids to stay hydrated and limit alcohol and caffeine. Avoid taking sleeping pills during the flight. If you have trouble sleeping after a few days at your destination, consider taking a mild sleeping pill — unless your doctor advises otherwise.

-When you arrive at your destination, reset your watch to local time. If possible, allow yourself a day or two to acclimate to the time change.

Some research suggests melatonin, an over-the-counter supplement, may help decrease jet lag. You may try taking 1 to 3 milligrams of melatonin at bedtime for several days once you arrive at your destination. However, the benefits of melatonin are often exaggerated. More research is needed to determine its potential benefits and risks.

Fitness

Preventing Injury and Illness

Physical activity is good for your health, but it does stress and strain your body in ways that a more inactive lifestyle does not. If it's done too suddenly or without basic precautions, exercise can lead to injury or illness.

Even if you have long been active and are fit, keep safety in mind. Do not assume that basic precautions do not apply to you.

The most important ways to avoid injury and illness are to:

-Learn about the risks of any new activity you begin. Take lessons, if appropriate.

-Always use the safety gear that is recommended for your chosen activity, such as helmets and knee pads. Learn about the use and proper fit of safety equipment.

-Begin an exercise routine slowly and gradually increase intensity.

-Pay attention to your body's signals, such as pain and fatigue, when starting a new activity or when increasing the intensity of your physical activity. General muscle soreness is common when you try a new activity, but pain can mean you're injured. If you are very tired, you may be doing too much too soon.

Some injuries and illnesses related to physical activity include the following:

-Dehydration may result from losing too much water through sweating and failing to replace it by drinking as you exercise. Follow these guidelines for avoiding dehydration when exercising.

-Heat exhaustion, heatstroke, or dehydration may result from exercising in heat and humidity. Review these guidelines for exercising in hot and humid weather.

-Overuse injuries can happen to anyone who overuses certain joints or muscles. Doing too much too soon or intensive exercise and sports can lead to overuse injuries.

-Exercise-induced asthma can occur regardless of whether you have asthma at any other time.

-Overtraining can cause fatigue and irritability as well as increased risk for injury and illness.

-Heart attach is rare, but you should be aware of its symptoms.

Symptoms of a heart attack
Symptoms of a heart attack include:
-Chest discomfort or pain that is crushing or squeezing or feels like a heavy weight on the chest. Pain may spread from the chest to the back, neck, jaw, or to one or both shoulders or arms.
-Sweating.
-Shortness of breath.
-Nausea or vomiting.
-Dizziness or lightheadedness.
-A fast or irregular heartbeat.